We Will Hear More About the Rare Earths

An abundant supply of heavy rare earths have been cheaply from China. These are either running out or in the process of being shut down due to their impacting the environment.

Jan. 12, 2014 2:13 p.m. ET

Joseph Sternberg's "How the Great Rare-Earth Metals Crisis Vanished" (op-ed, Jan. 9) offers a reasonable perspective on Chinese central planning but fails to distinguish between looming supply issues for heavy rare earths, in contrast to a hapless oversupply of light rare earths. Heavies (dysprosium, terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium) have been identified by the U.S. Department of Energy as being critical for new technologies. An abundant supply of heavy rare earths have been cheaply obtained from ionic clays in riverbanks in southern China. These are either running out or in the process of being...